JPH03261999A - Outline font generating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To generate a smooth outline font where curves are connected excellently by altering contour data between a couple of parting points under constant conditions and generating curve data according to the data. CONSTITUTION:When a contour extracting means 1 extracts contour data on a dot font, a parting point detecting means 2 detects the parting points of the contour according to the contour data. A contour altering means 3 alters contour data in each block into specific contour data while regarding the part between a couple of adjacent parting points among respective detected parting points as one block. In this case, the contour altering means 3 skips discontinuous points constituting the contour block in one block under specific conditions and connects the remaining discontinuous points to alter the contour data. Consequently, the contour data after the alteration becomes a segment (segment approximated to curve) which is smooth on the whole.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an outline font generation II device used in a world processor or the like.

[Summary of the Invention] This invention extracts contour data of a dot font and detects its division points, and then divides curve data into one block based on the contour data in each block, with the space between a pair of adjacent division points as one block. In an outline font generator that generates an outline font by generating blocks one by one and combining each curve data, the outline font generator generates curve data one block at a time after changing the outline data of each block under certain conditions. This generates a smooth outline font that emphasizes the curves of the curves.

[Prior Art 1] Conventionally, typical examples of methods for generating outline fonts include a method using a dot font stored in a character generator or a method using coordinate values of discontinuous points forming a character font.

When generating an outline font using a dot font, first the dot font is read out from the character generator and its outline data is extracted. Next, each division point is detected from this outline data.

In this case, in order to take one dividing point, if the projecting part of the contour is called a folding line, at least one dividing point is taken on this folding line.
For example, take the dividing points at both ends (turning points), the midpoint, or the end points of the folding line.

Among the contour division points detected in this way, the area between a pair of adjacent division points is regarded as one block, and curve data is generated one block at a time based on the contour data of each block, and by combining each curve data, an outline font is created. occurs.

Note that Figure 5 (A) shows the contour data extracted from the dot font and the dividing points (○ in the figure) taken on this contour data.
6(A) shows an outline font generated by generating a curve based on contour data between a pair of adjacent dividing points and combining each curve data.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In this way, when an outline font is generated from a dot font, there tend to be parts where the curved lines are poorly connected, as shown in the X part in FIG. 6(A). Ta.

The reason for this is thought to be that the contour data between the dividing points is used as is when generating the curve data.

It is clear that if the contour data between the dividing points can be changed under certain conditions and then the curve data can be generated based on that, it is possible to generate a smooth outline font with good connections between the curves. It is.

An object of the present invention is to change contour data between a pair of dividing points under certain conditions and then generate curve data based on the changed contour data.

[Means to solve the problem] The means of this invention are as follows.

The contour extracting means 1 (see the functional block diagram of FIG. 1, the same applies hereinafter) extracts contour data from the dot font stored in the character generator.

The dividing point detection means 2 detects the dividing points of the contour data extracted by the contour extracting means 1, respectively. In this case, the dividing point is detected by taking at least k one dividing point on the folding line based on a certain rule.

The contour changing means 3 converts the contour data in each block into predetermined contour data by defining a block between a pair of adjacent dividing points among the dividing points detected by the dividing point detecting means 2.
Change block by block. In this case, the wheel 1 changing means 3 is
The contour data is changed by skipping discontinuous points constituting the contour data in the pack under certain conditions and connecting the remaining discontinuous points.

The outline font generating means 4 generates curve data one block at a time based on the contour data changed by the contour changing means 3, and generates an outline 2 font by combining each curve data.

[Work] The operation of the means of this invention is as follows.

When creating an outline font from a dot font, the outline extraction means 1 first extracts the outline data of the dot font. Then, the dividing point detection means 2 detects the dividing point of the contour based on this contour data.

The contour changing means 3 changes the contour data in each block into predetermined contour data by defining a block between a pair of adjacent dividing points among the detected dividing points. In this case, the contour changing means 3 changes the contour data by skipping discontinuous points forming the contour data in l block under certain conditions and connecting the remaining discontinuous points.

As a result, the contour data after the change becomes a smooth line segment (a line segment that approximates a curve).

Based on the contour data changed by the contour changing means 3, the outline font generating means 4 generates curve data one block at a time, and generates an outline font by combining each curve data.

Therefore, it is possible to generate curve data based on the contour data after changing the contour data between the pair of dividing points under certain conditions.

[Example 1 Hereinafter, one embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6.

2nd U! J is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an outline font generator.

The dot font storage section 11 constitutes a character generator, and dot fonts such as various characters and symbols are stored in advance in the dot font storage section 11.

The dot contour extraction section 12 extracts the contour data from the dot font stored in the dot font storage section 11. The contour data thus extracted is a closed curve including an inner ring part and an outer ring part. The data is transferred to the data buffer 13.

The contour dividing point detection unit 14 detects contour dividing points from among the contour data in the contour data buffer 13 in the same manner as usual, and detects at least one dividing point on the return line based on the -leg rule. The dividing points are detected as shown in the figure, and among the detected dividing points, the area between a pair of adjacent dividing points is regarded as one block, and the contour data within each block is
The data is sequentially supplied to the curve emphasizing section 15 block by block.

The curve emphasizing section 15 receives the contour data in each block that is sequentially sent one block at a time from the contour division point detection section 14, and changes the contour data in each block one block at a time according to a certain rule. Then, when generating an outline font (described later), the outline data is changed so that the continuations of the curves that make up the font are smooth, that is, the curves of the curves are emphasized. In this case, curve emphasis is used. The unit 15 changes the contour data by skipping discontinuous points forming the contour data in l block under certain conditions and connecting the remaining discontinuous points.

The curve generating section 16 generates curve data one block at a time based on the contour data changed by the curve emphasizing section 15, and generates an outline font by sequentially combining each curve data, and stores it in the outline font storage section 1.
Store in 7.

The main controller 18 includes a dot contour extraction section 12, a contour division point detection section 14. It controls the operations of the curve emphasizing section 15 and the curve generating section 16, and various operations of this outline font generating device are controlled in accordance with the main controller 18.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

Now, when generation of an outline font is instructed for a given dot font, the main controller 18 operates the dot outline extraction section 12 to search the dot font storage section 11 for the specified dot font, and The contour data of the dot font is extracted and transferred to the contour data buffer 13. Then, one contour division point detection unit 14
detects contour division points from the contour data in the contour data buffer 13 based on a certain rule.

Here, it is assumed that the contour data extracted by the dot contour extraction section 12 and the division points detected by the contour division point detection section 14 have a relationship as shown in FIG. 5(A). Note that the 0 mark in the figure indicates each dividing point.

Thus, the one contour division point detection section 14 sequentially sends the contour data between a pair of adjacent division points one block at a time, and supplies it to the curve enhancement section 15 .

Here, FIG. 3 shows contour data for one block sent to the curve emphasizing section 15, that is, a pair of adjacent dividing points P,
, Contour data between P2 (part indicated by thick line in the figure)
This shows the state in which is expanded onto a square of the XY coordinate system. Note that the size of one square is the unit number of dots (for example, 1
(dot) is supported.

This kind of contour data for l blocks is sent to the curve emphasizing section 15.
is given, the curve emphasizing section 15 first finds the midpoint PC of this contour data. Now, for the contour data shown in Fig. 3, if one dividing point P1 is the starting point and the other dividing point P2 is the ending point, the data length Xl in the X direction from the starting point to the ending point is the number of squares "13", and the Y direction is The data length Yl is also the number of eyes ``
13'', therefore, the data length of the contour data is the sum of the data length Xl in the X direction and the data length 7 sentences in the Y direction (the number of squares r2r;''), and the midpoint PC is first the square ar1.
3" position. In addition, as mentioned above, when the data length of the contour data consists of an even number of squares, the PC point is the third point.
The button shown in the figure is the corner of the eye, that is, the end of the It size data (!11th data), but if the data length of the contour data is an odd number, the PC point is the midpoint of the unit data. becomes.

After finding the midpoint PC of the contour data in this way, the one-curve emphasizing unit 15 calculates the dividing point (starting point) Pl, the data length in the X direction ΔX] and the data length in the Y direction Δy1 between the midpoint PC.
seek. In this case, the data length ΔX1 is "9" and the data length Δy1 is "4", and the curve emphasis unit 15 is configured to measure the data length ΔX2 in the X direction and the data length ΔX2 in the Y direction between the midpoint PC and the dividing point (end point) P2. Find the data length Δy2. In this case, data length ΔX2 is "4" and data length ΔY2 is "9".
becomes.

Then, the curve emphasizing unit 15 reads “ΔxIXΔF2>Δx7
Performs the logical operation of XΔY+X2J, where [Δx2
r2J, which is multiplied by XΔVIJ, indicates the curvature criterion value.

Here, if rΔX+XΔF2 > ΔX2XΔyl×2, and “ΔX2 XΔyl>ΔXI×ΔV2
If it is X2J, first-order curve enhancement processing is executed.

That is, if "ΔX+XΔY2>Δx2 xΔF1 -7n-1, n: number of squares), then move horizontally (Xn "I; Xn-1, 3'
n = Yn-1), the discontinuous points in the relevant portion are skipped, the remaining adjacent discontinuous points are directly connected, and this straight line data is sent to the curve generation section 16.

Similarly, if [Δx2 They are connected using straight line data, and this straight line data is sent to the curve generating section 16.

On the other hand, if any of the above-mentioned judgment formulas does not hold true (if the curve is small), the contour data is directly sent to the curve generation unit 1.
Send to 6.

Here, in FIG. 3, the part indicated by the broken line is the above-mentioned determination formula [Δxl XΔy2>ΔX2×Δy2×2” or r
Δz2 XΔ71 > ΔXI XΔy2×2” is shown. As a result, the contour data shown by solid lines in FIG. 3 is changed to contour data as shown in FIG. 4, and the changed contour data becomes relatively smooth contour data (data that approximates a curved line).

This operation is executed one block at a time each time one block of contour data is sent from the contour division point detection section 14, and the modified contour data is sequentially supplied to the curve generation section 16 one block at a time.

As a result, the contour data shown in FIG. 5(A) is changed to the contour data shown in FIG.
The contour data is changed to the one shown in B).

Then, the curve generating section 16 generates curve data block by block based on the contour data sent from the curve emphasizing section 15, and also generates an outline font by combining each curve data. It is stored in the storage unit 17.

Figure 6 (B) shows the 5th v! It shows an outline font generated based on the outline data shown in J(B). In comparison with the conventional outline font shown in FIG. 6(A), the outline font in this case is Y1. Y2
The part shown with is a smooth curve with good curve joints. Also.

Since the curve of the Y2 portion in the figure is emphasized for both the inner ring part and the outer ring part, the width of the character font sandwiched between the inner ring part and the outer ring part is constant, and a high-quality outline font is generated.

In the above embodiment, the curvature criterion included in the criterion is set to "2", but the degree of curve emphasis can be changed by arbitrarily changing this value.

[Effects of the Invention] This invention can generate curve data based on the contour data between a pair of dividing points after changing it under certain conditions. It is possible to generate outline fonts.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 6 show an embodiment, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an outline font generator, and FIG. 3 is outline data for 1 block. Figure 4 is a diagram showing the contour data for one block after the change, and Figure 5 (A) is the dot contour extraction unit. FIG.
B) is a diagram showing the contour data after the contour data in FIG. 5(A) has been changed by the curve emphasizing unit 15, and FIG. 6(B)
is a diagram showing an outline font generated based on the contour data in FIG. 5(B), and FIG. 6(A') is a diagram for explaining a conventional example using the contour data shown in FIG. 5(A). FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline font generated based on . 11... Dot font storage section, 12...
... Dot contour extraction section, 13 ... Contour data buffer, 14 ... Contour division point detection section, 15 ...
...Curve emphasis section, 16...Curve generation section, 1
8. Old... Main control device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Contour extracting means for extracting contour data of a dot font; dividing point detecting means for detecting dividing points of the contour data extracted by the contour extracting means; a contour changing means for changing contour data in each block one block at a time to predetermined contour data, with a block between a pair of adjacent dividing points among the dividing points; outline font generating means for generating an outline font by generating curve data one block at a time based on the curve data and combining the respective curve data, the outline changing means comprising: An outline font generator characterized in that outline data is changed by skipping continuous points under certain conditions and connecting remaining discontinuous points.